The Ox — Restaurant in Bristol

Wow.

I'm normally terrible at remembering to give feedback, but I've just come home after a fantastic meal at The Ox in Bristol. What an experience from start to finish.

It was my mother's 50th birthday and we fancied a nice treat in Bristol. The Ox was suggested and we thought we'd give it a go. From the moment we entered until the moment we left we were looked after and wanted for nothing. The friendly maître d' (whose name I didn't catch because I'm useless) was waiting for us, greeted us warmly and took us straight to our table. We were then looked after for the evening by Jim who took our orders and Emmanuelle who brought us our delicious food. Having trained staff and management in restaurants, I'm incredibly fussy when it comes to service (to the point where my friends no longer want to eat out with me). I was thoroughly impressed. In fact, I could not have asked for anything more.

Jim was attentive and friendly, ensuring we had everything we needed and nothing we didn't need without it ever feeling forced or coming close to 'smarminess' (we won't mention the top-knot...). Emmanuelle was also brilliant, bringing our food with a smile, sharing a few jokes and checking whether we needed anything else.

We had 3 delicious courses. For starters we chose soft-shelled crab, pork terrine, prawn salad and smoked hickory ribs. For decent-sized portions they didn't last long!

For the mains, we chose lamb (beautifully tender), 3 fillet steaks (all cooked perfectly – my gran, who is always a bit fussy when it comes to meat, thought it was delicious, tender and, to use her words, 'bootiful') and a generous sirloin which was also cooked to perfection. 5 empty plates says it all.

We then pigged out to the extreme with desserts and after-dinner drinks. The selection of ice creams and sorbets (peanut butter ice cream cannot be recommended highly enough) and a couple of chocolate delices were fantastic. Jim recommended a great whisky cocktail for my mum – thoroughly enjoyed – and we also went for a warming port, a gorgeous amaretto, a rich coffee and a cheeky limoncello, because it's always fun to see your gran a bit pissed.

For all of this wonderful food and service, our bill was under £300. Not bad for my new favourite restaurant in Bristol.

I'd like to say thank you to all the staff for a wonderful evening: a big thank you to the chefs for the delicious food, to the waiting staff for looking after us all and to the management for ensuring that everything was perfect and for training your staff so well.

(We also left a brolly in the restaurant. Barely five minutes down the road we received a phone call to let us know – a...

Visited here for a Sunday roast after seeing some online attention, booked a 4pm table due to work commitments but was not disappointed.

Ordered - scallops for starters and beef roast for main with side of mac and cheese.

Scallops - very well plated, looked stunning and showed off scallop in all its glory. Super soft scallop, almost buttery and melts in your mouth texture, really fresh and quality produce, it was accompanied by a few little additions which brought the dish together but did not overpower or shadow the scallops at all. Great starter!

Roasts - both plates came out looking identical which I like that eye for presentation certainly shows here at the Ox! A good healthy sized plate, overall lots individual flavours here every element on the plate has been thought about and looked after, really enjoyed the greens and braised red cabbage that’s how veg should be done! Really completes a dish when veg is thought about and flavoured.

Roast beef was cooked to perfection, succulent, juicy still rare but packing flavour and rested well. Solid roast potatoes too, my only gripe with those is there was only 3 :(

Overall a solid roast dinner and delivers what they claim that’s for sure.

Mac and cheese side - cheesey, creamy crispy top it’s everything you want from a Mac and cheese no complaints it’s a nice side dish for making the roast naughty too!

Side note; gravy was nice deep flavourful with a red wine flavour present. Brings the roast together nicely! Only thing dint enjoy so much was the Yorkshire pudding, not sure if it was made in house or bought in but lacked flavour or crispiness.

My only downside to the visit was the temperature to the roast, it was warm when served which realistically went cold pretty fast, the gravy was lukewarm and nothing on the roast at all was piping hot. Became a race to finish it faster than it got cold. Which is a huge shame.

Overall will rate it a 8/10 based on the flavours and vibes, would be higher if a few things just a lot hotter on the plate.

Would...

Honestly 5 stars isn't good enough.

Came here on a Tuesday night (about 8pm) for my birthday. The venue was a little bit difficult to find as it is down the steps. So it is situated underneath another venue in case you struggle.

On arrival, the staff were very friendly and accommodating. The lighting is low and atmospheric which I really enjoyed. The bar tender is brilliant was able to accommodate my wishes. You can tell he really knows his craft and how to make a good cocktail.

Me and my partner had the fillet steak. Would normally be out of my price range but treated myself as it was my birthday. I had it accompanied with the garlic butter with Mac and cheese and my partner with the peppercorn and fries. Both sides were to die for. The garlic butter was smooth and so full of flavour. The peppercorn was perfectly spiced and in more of a jus style instead or creamy which I thought really brought something different but both matched the meat perfectly. We shared the sauces, mixing them at times, which tasted phenomenal. Fries and Mac and cheese were equally flawless. Both went for rare-medium/rare and it was cooked to perfection. The meat melted in your mouth and the knife had no resistance. Forgot to double check but pretty sure it was locally sourced beef as well.

For dessert we shared a creme brulee. Again this was sensational and, because it was served shallow, there was a great creme to caramelised sugar ratio. I also think the rhubarb on top was a brilliant addition as it gave a nice sharp edge to the flavour (fyi this is added on top so could have been removed if not enjoyed).

The staff themselves were brilliant. Attentive yet not overbearing. Special mention (don't know if I can say names) to the one with the new tattoo as she was especially personable and sweet. They also gave a brilliant recommendation for drinks to go for afterwards.

All in all the best steak house I have ever been to and would love to go again. 10/5 stars! (Forgot to take a photo of the steak because I got too...